{"id":2610643,"date":"2026-06-04T13:17:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-upholds-fccs-ability-to-penalize-att-and-verizon\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T13:18:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:18:33","slug":"supreme-court-upholds-fccs-ability-to-penalize-att-and-verizon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-upholds-fccs-ability-to-penalize-att-and-verizon\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court upholds FCC&#8217;s ability to penalize AT&#038;T and Verizon"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsupreme-court-upholds-fccs-ability-to-penalize-att-and-verizon%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2610643&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s power to impose penalties on telecommunications companies, ruling 8-1 in the consolidated cases *FCC v. AT&#038;T* and *Verizon Communications v. FCC*.Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the FCC\u2019s forfeiture process is constitutional and does not violate the companies\u2019 Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. The Court found that the orders at issue were not binding fines that created an immediate obligation to pay, and that the government must still prove its case to a jury before any payment could be required.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing the companies acted in good faith by paying under protest and seeking to reclaim the money, and he said they could not have known the penalties would later be treated as nonbinding. The decision preserves a key enforcement tool for the FCC and comes roughly two years after the Supreme Court rejected a similar enforcement approach used by the Securities and Exchange commission.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"203\">Supreme Court<\/a> handed the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federal-communications-commission\/\">Federal Communications Commission<\/a> a victory on Thursday, upholding its ability to penalize telecommunications companies by finding that its scheme for levying fines is constitutional.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The high court <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/25-406_nmip.pdf\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/25-406_nmip.pdf\">ruled<\/a> 8-1 in favor of the federal agency in the consolidated cases <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4537015\/supreme-court-grills-fcc-authority-impose-fines-att-verizon\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4537015\/supreme-court-grills-fcc-authority-impose-fines-att-verizon\/\"><em>FCC v. AT&#038;T<\/em> and <em>Verizon Communications v. FCC<\/em><\/a>. Chief Justice John Roberts penned the majority opinion finding that the FCC\u2019s penalty scheme does not violate the companies\u2019 Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/number-of-children-seeking-gender-reassignment-soared-by-20-per-cent-during-uk-lockdowns\/\" title=\"Number of Children Seeking Gender Reassignment Soared by 20 Per Cent During UK Lockdowns\">high court found<\/a> that AT&#038;T and Verizon did not have to pay the more than $100 million in fines for selling customers\u2019 location data to third parties, agreeing with the FCC that the fine was presented to the companies as a preliminary finding, rather than a binding fine that created a debt to be paid.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4589108\/supreme-court-another-case-the-first-step-act-by-inmate\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Supreme Court takes up another case over First Step Act brought by inmate<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4588485\/trump-probably-lose-birthright-citizenship-case\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump says he will \u2018probably<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-takes-up-another-case-over-the-first-step-act-brought-by-inmate\/\" title=\"... takes up another ... over the First Step Act brought by inmate\">\u2019 lose birthright citizenship case<\/a> in rant against lawfare<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4585378\/supreme-court-death-row-inmate-jury-selection-racial-bias-claims\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Supreme Court sides with death row inmate over jury selection racial bias claims<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe FCC\u2019s forfeiture proceedings fit comfortably within these precedents,\u201d Roberts wrote for the majority. \u201cThe orders at issue did not settle the carriers\u2019 legal obligations because, stated simply, they did not create an obligation to pay. And the orders did not reflect the ultimate determination of any fact because, before the carriers could have been made to pay, the Government was required to prove its case to a jury.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter, writing in his solo opinion that he would have sided with AT&#038;T and Verizon because the companies could not have known the fines were not binding when they were issued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAT&#038;T and Verizon did what courts ordinarily encourage: They paid under protest and filed suit to get their payments back,\u201d Thomas wrote. \u201cToday, the Court punishes AT&#038;T and Verizon for complying with a government order that they in good faith believed was obligatory, diligently preserving their objection to that order, and then litigating that objection so effectively as to cause the Government to change its position years later. I respectfully dissent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During oral arguments in April, multiple justices questioned the FCC\u2019s apparent retreat from its previous position that the fines were binding. Despite vocal concerns from Justices\u00a0Neil Gorsuch\u00a0and Brett Kavanaugh that the FCC may have misled AT&#038;T and Verizon about whether the fines were binding without a court order, all of the justices, except Thomas, sided with the FCC in the end.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thursday\u2019s ruling preserves one of the FCC\u2019s most powerful enforcement mechanisms against telecommunications companies, and it comes two years after the Supreme Court struck down the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/securities-and-exchange-commission\/\">Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s<\/a> method of enforcing fines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4562772\/major-supreme-court-decisions-remainder-term\/\">THE MAJOR SUPREME COURT DECISIONS REMAINING FOR THIS TERM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court has 23 opinions it has yet to release in cases it heard over its current term. The remaining rulings are expected to be released over the next several weeks, with the term set to conclude by the end of June or early July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The high-profile cases yet to be ruled on by the Supreme Court include disputes over President Donald Trump\u2019s ability to fire independent agency heads, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >state laws barring biological men<\/a> from women\u2019s sports, and Trump\u2019s birthright citizenship executive order.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court backs FCC, ruling its fines process is constitutional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2610644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26138777211363_8bc339.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[24732,16609,32275],"class_list":["post-2610643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-att","tag-fcc","tag-supreme-court"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26138777211363_8bc339.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2610643"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610647,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610643\/revisions\/2610647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2610644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2610643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2610643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2610643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}